Proteas need to dust themselves off before England challenge: Maharaj

Nearly 2,000km separates Dharamsala from Mumbai, and while the Proteas would like to put distance between their defeat to the Netherlands and their next match against England, reviewing the reasons for their loss in the foothills of the Himalayas is imperative. 

A mountainous task awaits Temba Bavuma’s men on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium — the venue of the 2011 World Cup final. The World Cup holders suffered a chastening defeat of their own against Afghanistan and will be significantly bolstered by the return of Ben Stokes, a match-winner par excellence in the modern game. 

A long travel day on Wednesday, which included the six-hour flight from Dharamsala in northern India to Mumbai in the west, meant the post-match debrief from the Dutch game was postponed to Thursday.

Already, however, individuals had conducted their own assessments, said Keshav Maharaj. “We will realign those with the broader team assessment later,” he said on Thursday. 

“The boys were hurting, but that is part and parcel of being a professional sportsman. We woke up the next day and the guys were rejuvenated and ready to go again.” 

The loss to the Dutch was a shock and snapped a five-match winning streak for the Proteas that started in the series on home soil against Australia. 

Besides the return of Stokes, England’s players have also tapped into the expertise of Test coach Brendon McCullum, who is in Mumbai on business. Jonny Bairstow told English media the team were keen to reinforce their attacking approach, which McCullum had reminded them of, as did Stokes in a reportedly rousing speech after Sunday’s loss to Afghanistan.

It’s not that England have been tentative; they are still batting at a similar scoring rate of just over six runs an over, as they were in 2019, but it's been the loss of wickets at regular stages that has cost them losses to New Zealand and Afghanistan. 

The Proteas, also, are aware of areas that need repair — an easy one is the elimination of wides and no-balls which led to them conceding 32 extras on Tuesday. Handing free runs to any opponent can be fatal, particularly a side such as England who bat all the way to No 10, where Adil Rashid has 10 first-class hundreds to his name. 

“They are a well-balanced team and they bat deep,” said Maharaj. “From the perspective of our bowling unit, we have to make sure we have plans for everyone and we need to execute on the day.

“You want to keep the intensity up throughout the 50 overs and that is a key aspect to focus on.”

The Proteas’ top six were widely recognised before the tournament as a potent group, but Tuesday’s performance should be a humbling one for those batters.

“When we are two or three down early, the lesson is to ensure we refocus, realign and restructure,” Maharaj said.

At training on Thursday, Rassie van der Dussen was working on his reverse sweep, the shot that led to his downfall in Dharamsala. It is a stroke that has brought him plenty of runs throughout his career but that he executed poorly on Tuesday.

Thursday's debrief will involve reminding the players not to go away from their strengths and to stick with a game plan they all bought into during the winter and that has gradually been refined in the weeks leading up to the World Cup. 

Like the trip from Dharamsala to Mumbai, the World Cup is a long journey and one that can only be properly traversed by learning from mistakes — and not repeating them.